Converting between aspect ratios is a common problem in the field of image and video processing. For example, a display that displays images according to a 16:9 aspect ratio may receive images natively captured according to a 4:3 aspect ratio and perform an aspect ratio conversion to fit the image to the display. Conventional conversion techniques such as cropping, linearly scaling, and padding each result in a perceivable reduction in the quality of the image or video. For example, cropping removes content from the image and reduces the field of view of the image. Linear scaling maintains the full field of view but introduces perceivable distortion into the image. For example, if an image is vertically compressed and/or horizontally stretched to convert from a 4:3 to a 16:9 aspect ratio, features in scene will appear “short and fat” relative to the original image. Padding maintains the full field of view without distortion, but results in unused display space around the sides and/or top of the image, thus rendering an image that appears too small relative to the display.